Vanilla
by beccaA
Summary: AU Buffy and Faith are normal teenagers, how will they deal with everything life has to throw at them? B/F W/K pairings
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Here's another AU story for you guys, this ideas been floating around in my head for a while, had to at least get it out there lol, that's why it's bit naff. Our two favourite leading ladies aren't slayer, they're just normal, everyday teenagers. Don't hesitate to let me know what you think. Hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, Joss owns everything.**

**Vanilla **

**Chapter 1 **

Buffy squealed as a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her waist, and she found herself being twirled through the air. Once her feet had reconnected with solid ground, she spun to a face the culprit, swatting them on the arm. "You scared the hell out of me." she said pouting.

"I'm sorry B, I called you're name like three times." Faith said, wrapping her arms, round the smaller girls waist and gently pulling her into towards her. "I'm just playing." she said trying a pout of her own.

"I know baby, but next time tap me on the shoulder, okay." she replied placing a chaste kiss against. Faith's lips. "Now stop pouting, only I'm allowed to pout." she replied firmly.

"Yes ma'am." Faith grinned, giving her a mock salute. "So how's the tryouts goin?" she asked curiously.

Buffy sighed, "Terrible, half the girls that turned up, wouldn't know a pom pom if it hit them in the face. And to make matters worse, Cordelia had an emergency hair appointment, so it's up to me and Harmony to pick the new girls."

Faith frowned, "An emergency hair appointment?" she questioned, "How the hell does that work, I mean what the fuck happened to her hair? Someone set it on fire or somethin?"

Buffy smiled, "No, she has a date with Jason tonight." she said, as if that explained everything.

"I'll never understand you guy's I swear to God." Faith muttered.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing her anyway? I thought you had practice?" she asks.

"I'm waitin on Kennedy." Faith explained, "In the meantime I thought I'd come and see my girl." she said, grinning at Buffy and flashing her dimples.

Hearing someone clearing their throat, they both looked up to see Harmony standing in front of them, her arms crossed before her chest. "If you two lovebirds are quite finished." she said glaring at the pair of them, before pointing at Faith. "You shouldn't even be in here, the gym's reserved for cheerleading tryouts only."

"Damn, and here was me about to try out for the team and everythin." Faith replied, sarcastically.

"Sorry we don't take skan-"

"Harmony!" Buffy snapped, her eyes almost daring her to finish that comment. "Just give us five minutes." she ordered. Harmony huffed and threw one glare at Faith, before storming off in a cloud of blonde hair and teeth.

"Bitch." Faith muttered, wincing when Buffy swatted her arm, again. "Damn B, you know I bruise easy." she said, feigning hurt as she rubbed at her arm.

"Aww, is the big mean hockey player, afraid of the wittle cheerleader." Buffy said, giggling at the look on her girlfriends face.

"Maybe, depends if you're gonna spank me again." she replied, wiggling her eyebrows.

"You're incorrigible, you know that right." Buffy said rolling her eyes.

"That's why you love me." Faith grinned.

"The fact that you're hot, helps me to forget the flaws in you're personality." Buffy grinned cheekily.

"Oooh low blow B." Faith said, clutching at her chest, "I'm wounded."

Rolling her eyes, Buffy smiled, and pulled Faith down to meet her lips, the kiss was soft and sweet, two words that people would never think to associate with the brunette, but Buffy knew better. Reluctantly breaking the kiss, Faith looked over and saw Kennedy's face pressed against the glass of the gym doors, her eyes alight as she watched the cheerleaders going through the motions. "I'd better go, before she drools everywhere, again." she said sighing.

"You be careful okay, and I'll see you tonight." Buffy said, kissing her quickly on the cheek.

"Sure thing B, have fun with little miss sunshine." she called, heading for the gym doors. She smirked as she saw the look of disdain on Harmony's face, as she watched her leaving.

Once she left the gym, she grabbed her friend by the arm, and dragged her away from the doors. "C'mon Ken, we've got a game to get to." she said, wrapping her arm, round her friends shoulders.

"But, I wanna see -"

"I'll tell Willow." Faith warned, cutting her off.

Kennedy sighed heavily, and allowed herself to be dragged away, "Fine, we'll go to stupid hockey practice." she mumbled, "But I'm so gonna kick you're ass later."

Faith snorted "Yeah, keep on dreamin bite size."

* * *

"So how's things with you and Faith?" Willow asked, as she sat down at the nearest table.

Buffy smiled dreamily, as she thought of the last couple of years with her girlfriend. When she'd first came to the school, she would never of dreamed of dating the cocky brunette. For one thing, they where nothing alike, she was a cheerleader, and Faith was captain of the girls ice hockey team. After months of persistent flirting on Faith's part, the younger girl had eventually worn down her defences and had now taken up residence in her heart.

"From the glazed look in you're eyes I'd say everything's peachy." Willow said, smiling at the contented look on her friends face.

Buffy smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, and to answer you're question, everything is definitely of the good." she replied. "Well almost, the only thing worrying me at the moment is Faith's epilepsy."

Willow frowned, "It's getting worse?"

"She's had two seizures in the last three weeks. I mean before that she hadn't had any for at least a year." Buffy said anxiously. "It's just the fact that she's being so blasé about it."

"Have you talked to her about it?" Willow asked in concern.

"I've tried to but she keeps shrugging me off." She said.

"M-Maybe she's worried about the finals, a-and she's got a big hockey game coming up, the stress could be getting to her." Willow said wisely.

"Maybe, I don't know." Buffy said, not sounding too sure. "I just know something's bothering her, she keeps everything bottled up inside, which obviously isn't healthy, hence the seizures."

"You could try helping her de-stress." Willow offered.

"Oh believe me I've tried." Buffy said, smirking as Willow blushed. "Seriously though, I'm determined to find out tonight. She's coming round to my house after practice, and I'm gonna pry the truth out of her one way or another."

* * *

They where nearing the end of the training session, and Faith was exhausted. She had the headache from hell, not to mention a pain in her ass, who went by the name of Jessie. This girl just didn't know when to quit. She knew that Jessie had a crush, or the better word would be obsession, with Buffy. And she took every opportunity to remind Faith of this fact.

They where just practising their passes, when Jessie had skated up alongside her, and started mouthing off. "Saw you're girl today Lehane." she commented, whistling in approval, "Nice piece of ass, saw her in her cheerleading outfit, gotta say I'd like to get me some of that." she said leering.

Faith clenched her jaw, "Fuck you Jessie." she spat. Slamming the puck down the rink towards Carla.

"Ooh touchy, I'm only asking if I can have her when you're done." she commented nonchalantly. "I mean she isn't gonna stay with a retard like you forever you know. She's gonna want to move onto bigger and better things, and when she does I'll be there."

"I said fuck, off." Faith growled, coming to a stop and glaring at her

"Don't have a 'fit' Faith." Jessie replied, grinning like a mad woman, as she knew that the barb had gotten to her. "Wouldn't want you're brains any more scrambled than they already are."

Faith growled and slammed Jessie back with her hockey stick, knocking her down onto the ice. Jumping on top of the floored girl, she began punching her face repeatedly, all she could hear was a roaring in her ears, as she gave into her rage. She felt someone's hands beneath her arms, and felt herself being pulled off of Jessie, who lay grinning beneath her, despite the blood that poured steadily from a cut on her lip.

"Lehane what the hells gotten into you?!" her coach shouted, it was then she realised he was the one that had pulled her up off the ice. Shrugging him off, she stood back and tried to get her breathing under control, forcing herself not to look back down at Jessie, for fear of wanting to continue pounding her face into mush.

"Sorry coach." she mumbled.

"It wasn't her fault coach, it was Jessie, she was shit stirrin." One of the other girls piped up, the rest of them nodding in agreement.

"Jessie get you're ass up I wanna talk to you." he ordered firmly. "Everyone else, clear out. Trainings over for today."

Faith watched as Jessie was led off the ice, and couldn't help but smile as she saw the coach giving her the third degree. Removing her helmet, she started to make her way off the ice, when her vision went blurry. Rubbing at her eyes, she shook her head as the roaring in her ears retuned and intensified. She could vaguely here people calling her name, but found herself unable to respond, the next thing she felt was pain, as her body collided with the ice, then calm, as darkness descended.

Kennedy was just making her way out of the restroom, when she'd seen the aftermath of Faith and Jessie's fight. As she was nearing the edge of the ice rink, she saw her friend stumble, before pitching face first onto the ice, where she went into a full blown seizure.

"Oh shit Fai." Kennedy cursed, leaping over the barrier onto the ice. She skated over to the crowd of people gathered around her friend, and quickly pushed through. "Can everyone just back the fuck up!" she yelled. The rest of her team-mates formed a protective circle around their captain, shielding her from prying eyes, as she lay convulsing on the ice.

Kennedy saw that someone had placed a couple of jumpers under her head as a make shift pillow, to prevent her from banging her head against the solid ice beneath her.

"What happened?" she asked, looking up at Carla who was watching them in concern.

"Jessie was winding Faith up, saying shit about her girl." Carla said, "Faith just lost it, and started pounding on her, we managed to split them up, and just as we where heading off the ice, she just collapsed."

"Where's Jessie now?" Kennedy asked, looking around for her 'team-mate'

"Coach dragged her ass off the ice, sent her packing until she could sort out her attitude." Carla explained.

"Next time I see her I'm gonna kick her ass. What the fuck is her problem anyway." Kennedy exclaimed, anger at Jessie, and concern for Faith warring on her face. Hearing Faith groan, she looked down and saw that her friends seizures where lessening. The group around them parted, as the coach and one of the rinks medics appeared with a stretcher.

"How she doing?" the coach asked in concern.

"Think they're stopping, I'd better phone her foster parents, let them know what's happened." she said, she also knew she'd have to phone Buffy, the little blonde would not be happy, Faith would be in for a world of hurt when she woke up.

**Tbc?**

**A/N: Will I continue, or should I leave it? R & R and let me know :-)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: I know I'm a bad person for not updating my other fics lol, I'd started writing the next chapter of Carnage when this fic came out instead. Kind of surprised I got any reviews at all, cause I feel that this fic is a bit random, but as always they are greatly appreciated, and make me feel all warm and fuzzy :-)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, Joss owns everything**

**Chapter 2 **

Buffy parked her car outside Faith's foster parents house. Sprinting up the path, she rang the bell and waited for them to answer. She could see Faith's car in the drive, and smiled as she remembered her girlfriends rant, about her foster parents banning her from using the car, a couple of weeks ago. Michael and Trudi Walker where both in their early fifties, and had been fostering for years, they where the nicest people you've ever met, and Faith was extremely protective of them.

However Faith was anything if not stubborn, and she felt that everyone was being overprotective of her, trying to wrap her in cotton wool. Buffy knew they where only looking out for her safety, and where concerned that she could have a seizure when she was driving, and get into an accident. Especially now that they where becoming more frequent. She stated that she knew when, a seizure was coming on, and that she could pull over to the side of the road, course Michael asked her what she would do if she was in a tunnel, and Faith had flipped her lid and stormed out of the room.

Buffy was broken from her reverie as Trudi answered the door. "Hi."

"Buffy, Hi sweetie, c'mon in." Trudi said, holding the door open for her. "We where going to call you, but Kennedy said she'd already phoned ahead, did she tell you what happened?" she asked.

"She said something about Faith getting into a fight, before she collapsed." Buffy said, "I-Is she okay."

Trudi smiled reassuringly, "She's fine, just sleeping off the after effects, you know how they always knock her for six. I heard the other girl came off worse." she said proudly.

"Is it okay if I go up and see her?" Buffy asked shyly.

"Of course sweetheart, you know you don't have to ask." Trudi replied, "If you want to stay the night you're more than welcome." she said, before adding, "As long as you let Joyce know."

Buffy blushed as she remembered one of the first times she'd stayed over, she'd forgotten to phone her mom, and she'd nearly launched a full scale manhunt, fearing her daughter had been kidnapped.

"It's okay, Mrs Walker, she knows I'm here." Buffy replied.

"Buffy, it's been two years, and I've still got to remind you not to call me Mrs Walker." Trudi said in mock exasperation, "Honestly you'd think some of Faith's bad manners would have rubbed off on you by now." she said grinning, before heading off into the kitchen.

* * *

Quietly opening Faith's room door, she saw that the curtains where closed, bathing the room in near darkness. She could just make out the form of her girlfriend lying under the covers. Crossing the room, she carefully climbed into bed, trying her best not to disturb her.

"B?" Faith croaked, blinking up at her groggily.

"Hi sweetie." she whispered, tenderly kissing Faith's head. "You okay?" she asked.

"Mm tired." Faith slurred, struggling to keep her eyes open.

"I know baby." Buffy said stroking her hand through her girlfriends hair. She had expected no less, the seizures always took a lot out of her, after a day like today, she could be expected to sleep for hours. "You sleep okay, I'll be right here when you wake up." she whispered softly.

Faith smiled at her sleepily, "Love you." she murmured, her eyes drifting closed.

"I love you too baby." Buffy replied, smiling sadly, as she pulled Faith closer to her. As she lay there listening to her girlfriend breathing softly, she couldn't help but smile as she remembered the first time they'd met.

_(( FLASHBACK ))_

_Buffy sat outside the principals office watching the other students rushing off to their classes. She'd been dreading this day for months, and now it had finally arrived. After the excitement of moving had worn off, she knew she'd have to accept the fact she'd be joining a new school. Which meant making new friends, and trying not to make a complete ass of herself on the first day. She'd woken up three hours early for school, just so she could pick suitable clothes to wear, clothes that where cute and harmless, and wouldn't label her as a freak. So here she sat in her cute, harmless clothes, waiting on her designated guide to come and show her round the school. To say she was nervy was an understatement, she almost jumped out of her skin when, an out of breath red head seemingly appeared out of nowhere._

"_Hi, my name's Willow." The red head beamed, holding her hand out for Buffy to shake. "Sorry if I scared you, I was on my way here, when I realised I'd left my books in the library, only when I got there, they weren't there, cause it turned out I'd put them in my locker, course then I bumped into someone who wanted to borrow my science notes, but they weren't in my locker, they where in the library, where I'd left them when I looked for my books that I hadn't left." _

_Buffy smiled in amusement, "It's okay, my names Buffy." she replied, "It's a weird name I know…" she added, almost waiting for Willow to comment on her name. _

"_No it's not, I mean I'm named after a tree right." Willow said, sensing the new girls obvious discomfort, "Anyway, everybody's got weird names round here so you'll fit in just fine." _

_It was at that moment that two brunettes came barrelling down the corridor, the smaller of the two was hanging upside down, over the taller brunettes shoulder. "Faith put me down, my face is like a millimetre away from you're ass." _

"_And?" The one named Faith replied casually. _

"_I'm scared that the chilli burrito, you had for breakfast is gonna backfire out you're ass." The shorter one replied. "I'd kinda like to keep my eyebrows, and my other five senses." _

"_You're eyebrows aren't one of you're senses ya dumbass." Faith replied. _

_Buffy looked over at Willow in surprise, curious to see if she knew these two, and seeing the red head roll her eyes in amusement, she took that as a yes. "Buffy let me introduce you to the gruesome twosome." Willow said. "The tall loudmouth is Faith, and the other one is Kennedy, my girlfriend." she added._

_Buffy could sense that the other girl was waiting to see how she was going to react to that piece of information. However she just smiled and said, "I see what you mean about the weird names." causing Willow to giggle, and Kennedy to cry out in mock indignation, which was hard to do when you where hanging upside down, with your face pressed against someone's ass._

"_Will, help me." Kennedy mumbled._

_Willow sighed, "Faith, put her down, you'll end up putting her off girls for good." Faith snorted, but did as Willow said, dumping Kennedy unceremoniously in the middle of the corridor. Kennedy quickly scrambled to her feet, and rushed to her girlfriends side, hoping that she would protect her if Faith tried anything again._

"_What have you two been up too? Or is it safer not to ask?" Willow said, linking arms with Kennedy._

"_Safer not to ask." Kennedy mumbled._

"_Lets jus say it resulted in her having to kiss my ass." Faith grinned. "Which she did, so the debt is repaid, ain't that right Ken-doll." _

"_Yeah, Yeah." Kennedy mumbled. _

_Buffy had watched the friends interact in amusement, she couldn't help but notice, how alike the two brunettes where, and found herself wondering if they where related. She was broken from her train of thought, when she noticed the taller girl, Faith, staring at her._

"_So you're knew here right?" Faith asked curiously._

"_Y-Yeah." Buffy stammered, suddenly finding herself feeling as if she where under a microscope, with the way that the other girls dark brown eyes seemed to see straight through her. "I moved here from L.A." she replied. _

"_Really, cool. Thought I hadn't seen ya before, I know I would'a remembered if I had." Faith said smiling wolfishly._

_Buffy felt herself blushing, at the look in the other girls eyes, and could of sworn that she was flirting with her. _

"_Faith." Willow warned, nudging the brunette out of the way, she could see the glint in Faith's eye, and knew the younger girl was about to try and put her smooth moves on Buffy. "Shouldn't you and Kennedy be off to class." she said._

"_Shouldn't you be off to class." Faith countered._

"_I've got to show Buffy round the school." Willow replied. _

"_I don't mind showing her around." Faith offered eagerly._

_Willow smiled, and took Buffy's arm, Faith was like a dog with a bone, and she knew if she didn't get the other girl out of here soon, Faith would have convinced the blonde to join her in the janitors closet for some smoochy fun. "I thinks it's safer if I look after her today Faith, you don't want to scare her off on her first day." _

_Faith huffed and the beginnings of a pout appeared on her face, "Fine, I'll see you later B." she called, allowing herself to be dragged in the opposite direction by Kennedy, who had suddenly realised they where half an hour late for math. _

"_B?" Buffy asked, looking at Willow in confusion._

"_Don't worry, Faith likes to give everyone nicknames." she explained. "And it's no use trying to argue with her, once she christens you with one, they pretty much tend to stick." Willow said smiling affectionately. _

"_Is she always like that." Buffy asked._

_Willow smiled, "Pretty much, but she's harmless enough." she said, "Unless you get on her bad side. Ooh you know who she's like, you know on Friends, what's his name…Joey, she's totally like Joey, with all the food, and the flirting and stuff." _

"_Okay so now I know what to expect." Buffy said._

"_As long as you have food to distract her with, you'll be safe." Willow said, "Now let's get on with the guided tour." with that said, she linked arms with Buffy and led her off down the corridor._

_(( END FLASHBACK ))_

Buffy smiled, Willow had been right about one thing, her girlfriend was easily distracted by food. Looking down at the sleeping beauty sprawled across her chest, she felt her heart swell. She was determined to find out what was worrying her girlfriend. She knew that Jessie, had something to do with it. Faith had clashed with her hundreds of times during practice, and they'd even come to blows during the odd game. Buffy knew of Jessie's obsession with her, she'd been at the end of the odd love note from the other love sick teen, which of course had been quickly burned by her girlfriend, and normally resulted in Jessie having a black eye or two.

Buffy loved Faith, they'd been together two years for crying out loud. But she knew that there was a part of her girlfriend that was always waiting for the other shoe to drop, Buffy could confess her undying love for Faith over and over till she lost her voice, and the other girl would still worry that she wasn't good enough, and that she was going to leave her for the slightest thing. Buffy also knew that Faith's epilepsy played some part in her lack of confidence, Faith saw herself as flawed, because she wasn't like everybody else, she couldn't drink because of her medication, her life was ruled and dictated by her meds and her seizures. If Faith wouldn't believe that she was good enough for Buffy, then Buffy would have to show her that Faith was the only one she'd ever want, even if she had to bash it through that thick skull of hers.

**Tbc. **

**A/N: Likey no, likey yes? Let me no :-)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: Wow me glad you likey :-) Anywho here's chapter three, the updates aren't going to be as quick as they have been, cause I work night shift, eight nights in a row, so I sleep all day and I work all night which is fun lol especially seeing as the only thing that's awake when I am is my hamster. Thank Jeebus for coffee :-) Thanks once again for the reviews they feed my muse. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, Joss owns everything.**

**Chapter 3**

When Faith awoke, she was greeted with a blinding headache and a darkened room. Looking around in disorientation, it took a few minutes to realise that she was in her bedroom, and the squidgy thing she was lying on was her girlfriend. Who she was pretty sure would take offence at being referred to as squidgy. Carefully rolling off of Buffy, she lay on the bed beside her and run her hands over her eyes, trying to piece together what she remembered.

She knew well enough from the headache, and the convenient hole in her memory, that she'd had a seizure. Aside from that, the last thing she remembered was arriving for hockey practice. That thought alone made her wince, her foster parents had already banned her from using her car, the last thing she wanted, or needed, was them banning her from playing hockey. She was at risk of injury enough, without having a fit in the middle of the game and getting trampled by a large mass of girls wearing ice skates. She decided that the safer option would be to say nothing, just encase they hadn't thought of taking her off the team, she'd have to grill Kennedy for info, and find out how bad it was. Apart from Buffy, hockey was her life.

Sitting up in bed she reached her arm out, and flicked on the bedside lamp, smiling as she saw the glass of water and pain killers waiting for her. There was no doubt in her mind that Trudi was a saint, she always knew what she would need. Swallowing down the aspirin, she popped the lid off her pill bottle, and took her evening meds, before drinking down the rest of the water. Glancing at the alarm clock, she saw it was nine in the evening, which was when her stomach chose that moment to grumble, reminding her that she hadn't had anything to eat since lunch. Feeling the body next to her begin to stir, she looked over and could saw a sleepy pair of eyes staring back at her.

"Hey." she whispered.

"Hey." Buffy said, yawning softly. "What time is it?" she asked tiredly.

"Just after nine, didn't mean to disturb you." Faith replied, reaching down to brush the hair away from Buffy's eyes. "How long you been here?" she asked.

"Since four." Buffy said, sitting up in the bed, and running a hand over her hair, which was now barely resembling a pony tail. "Kennedy phoned me from the rink, and I came straight over." she explained, "Do you remember what happened?"

Faith shook her head, and looked down at her hands, which now lay on her lap. "No, I jus remember turnin up for practice, then wakin up here." she said.

"From what Kennedy saw, you got into a fight with Jessie, which you won by the way." Buffy said trying not to smile as she didn't want to encourage her girlfriend, who was obviously proud that she'd kicked some ass.

"Damn." Faith said grinning, "Wish I could remember that, been wantin to do that for weeks." she said, her smile disappearing as confusion covered her face. "So when did I…"

"Kennedy said it was when you where leaving the ice." Buffy said, caressing Faith's arm soothingly. She watched as her girlfriend, fiddled absently with her med I.D bracelet. "Baby, something's obviously bothering you, and I just want you to know I'm here if you want to talk about it." she said gently.

Faith sighed, and looked up to meet her gaze, "It's nothing…it's jus….everything's getting to me, you know. I'm jus stressed about the game, and all this shit with Jessie. Plus there's finals, I really wanna get into that sporting college Michael found, and my grades ain't up to shit." she said.

"Willow could help you study," Buffy offered, "And as far as Jessie's concerned, I think she's on thin ice, literally. Kennedy thinks that your coach is this close to dropping her from the team." she said gesturing with her index finger and thumb.

"I jus wish this was all over you know." she said.

"Don't worry, in a few more weeks it will be." Buffy said, resting her head in Faith's lap. "We'll all have graduated high school with flying colours, except Jessie. Who'll be forced to spend the rest of her life pumping gas for us, while we're off doing our high flying jobs. You as a professional hockey player, and me as you're incredibly beautiful girlfriend, who just so happens to have a multi-award winning music career." she said confidently.

Faith snorted, "Last time you said that, you where gonna be an award winning actress."

Buffy smiled, "Hey I can be anything I want to be, I'm pretty flexible." as soon as those words left her mouth, Buffy could see the glint in her girlfriends eye, and knew what she was going to say. "And don't you even think of going there, Faith." She warned, unable to fight the smile that was on her lips.

"What, you set me up with a line like that, and don't expect me to say nothin? You should know better than that B." Faith said.

Buffy rolled her eyes, and pulled her girlfriend down towards her, "Just shut up and kiss me." she said, and the two of them proceeded to do just that.

**Tbc**

**A/N: I know this chapters a bit short and I apologise, but I wanted to put it out, before I go back to work. This is my last day off and I don't know when I'll be able to update again. It won't be for at least another week, but I'll try my best. ****Cheerio! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: Thanks for the reviews, please feel free to keep them coming lol. Managed to get this chap written at work, cause it's been quieter than I thought. Hope you like, happy reading :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, Joss owns everything.**

**Chapter 4 **

Buffy and Willow where currently sat on Faith's front yard, watching Xander attempting, in his own words, 'to kick some female booty' by taking on Faith and Kennedy in a game of street hockey. Sadly enough he was loosing, and his poor attempt to prove that hockey was best left to the boys, was failing miserably. They watched as Xander was body checked by a rather overzealous Kennedy, and went flying head first over a garbage can. Executing a near perfect front flip. Kennedy whooped and high fived Faith, who'd skated over to congratulate her friend.

"Hey you two, play nice!" Buffy called, sounding, and feeling, like her mother, as she told off her girlfriend, and her partner in crime.

"Yeah, or there'll be no sex for you!" Willow shouted, immediately blushing at her outburst, and looking round the street, to see if she'd been overheard by any pitch fork wielding zealots. Her words however, had the desired affect, as the two giggling brunettes, immediately stopped, and simultaneously started pouting.

Xander groaned, as he pulled himself to his feet. Balancing precariously on his skates, as he tried to get his bearings. "I can't believe that happened again." he moaned, "What are you two feeding them?" he asked, as he skated over to sit beside Buffy and Willow. Deciding that he had been humiliated enough for one day. "Cause they are both freakishly strong."

"You should know better than to challenge those two at anything, especially hockey." Buffy said, wincing as Kennedy and Faith slammed at each other to get to the ball.

"You two do realise you're not wearing you're protective gear right!" Willow called, "Cause if you get hurt Kennedy, there will be no boo-boo kissage from me!"

"Or me." Buffy called, "But that statement refers to you Faith!" she added quickly, as she caught the leer on Kennedy's face, and the surprise on Faith's.

Buffy sighed, today was supposed to be about them de-stressing, and by them she really meant Faith. It had been a week since she'd last had a seizure, but the hockey final was tomorrow. This would be the last game Faith and Kennedy would play for the school, and everyone they knew would be there. The Sunnydale Sharks had won the last nine games they'd played. If they won this last game, the school's hockey team would break the record for most consecutive wins, or something. She'd sort of stopped paying attention after a while, and focused solely on making out with her girlfriend. Once Faith started talking about a subject she liked, the only way to make her stop was sex, or food, but they'd already eaten so the last option was void.

To tell the truth, Buffy was waiting for something to go wrong, Faith had been unbelievably calm the last few days. Faith had taken her advice, and had asked Willow to help her with her studies, and according to the redhead she was coming on well. Faith had also managed to avoid Jessie at school, and the coach had put her on time out during practice, which meant that Jessie would be on the bench for the hockey game tomorrow.

In reality Buffy appeared to be more worried about the game than Faith. She was Cheering at the game, but that was nothing new, it was Jessie's reaction to her being there that she was worried about, Jessie's harassment of Faith was bad enough, when she wasn't there. And she was worried about her girlfriend having a seizure, and getting injured. Faith was never someone that you would think of as being weak, but whenever Buffy saw her having a seizure, she was constantly reminded of how vulnerable the brunette really was. And she hated it, she hated the helpless feeling it gave her, as she was powerless to do anything to help. She was never used to being the strong one, and she didn't want to get used to it. She remembered the first time she'd witnessed Faith having a seizure.

_(( FLASHBACK ))_

_Buffy had been in Sunnydale for three months, and had quickly became close friends with Willow, Kennedy and Xander. Faith however was another story. The younger girl was an enigma, one day she could be sweet and charming, the next a pain in the ass. Plus with the constant flirting, and sexual innuendos, Buffy never knew where she stood with the other girl. She didn't know if Faith genuinely liked her, or whether she was just looking for a quick roll in the hay._

_They where all currently sitting sprawled across the couch in Kennedy's living room, enjoying movie night. With the exception of Xander, who'd had to skip movie night, to spend quality bonding time with his cousins, despite his pleas for mercy, Kennedy was adamant that she didn't want any ten year old brats 'messin up her shit'. So he'd had no choice but to stay at home._

_Glancing over at her friends, Buffy smiled as she saw Kennedy and Willow, snuggled on the couch beside her. While Faith sat, on the floor with her back, against the couch. She didn't know what was wrong with the brunette but she'd been quiet all night, and it disturbed her. Faith was normally quick of the mark with a witty retort, or an innuendo, but she'd hardly said a word. She could see that Kennedy and Willow where concerned as well, as they kept shooting their friend concerned glances. _

_They all looked as Faith stood up, and stumbled slightly. "You okay sweetie?" Willow asked._

"_Yeah, I jus need a drink." Faith replied, running a hand through her hair. "Anyone else want anything?" she asked. Seeing everyone shake their head, she shrugged and headed off to the kitchen._

_Buffy noticed Kennedy look at Willow in concern, and was about to ask her what was wrong with the other girl when they heard a crash from the kitchen._

_Kennedy leapt up from the sofa, quickly followed by Buffy and Willow. When they entered the kitchen they found Faith on the floor, in the middle of a seizure. Buffy stood at the door in shock, as Kennedy and Willow ran to her side._

"_Oh God, what's wrong with her?" Buffy asked fearfully, watching as her friends dragged the convulsing girl into the middle of the floor, away from the cabinets and the broken glass. _

"_She's having a seizure." Willow said._

_Buffy looked at them in confusion. "A seizure?" _

"_You mean Faith didn't tell you?" Willow said, "She's epileptic." _

"_Will honey, could you get me a cushion." Kennedy asked calmly, gently supporting Faith's head with her hands, so that she wouldn't crack it off the floor. _

_Buffy stepped aside, to allow Willow to get past into the living area, but other than that she didn't step any further into the room. She was still in a state of shock at what was happening. "Shouldn't we phone an ambulance or something?" _

"_No, they can't do anything for her. We just gotta let it run it's course." Kennedy explained, looking up as Willow came back into the kitchen and tossed her the cushion, which she placed under Faith's head._

"_I'll wait in the living room, she wouldn't want to know we where seeing this." Willow said, looking at Faith in concern. _

"_S-She's turning blue, I-Is that supposed to happen." Buffy asked anxiously, not paying attention to what the others where saying. She couldn't seem to take her eyes off of Faith. _

_Kennedy nodded gently, she could see how freaked out the small blonde was, and knew that witnessing this for the first time was scary. But it was a sight she would have to get used to, if she wanted to hang with them. "Yeah she's okay. She'll start breathing again, when the seizure's finished." she explained. _

"_What! You mean she's not breathing! How is this okay?!" she asked, her voice bordering on panic._

"_This is normal alright. It's hard for her to breath when she's fitting." Kennedy explained. "If you see me start to freak out, that's generally a signal for you to freak out." _

"_Isn't there anything we can do for her." she asked, feeling helpless._

_Kennedy shook her head, "This is all you can do." she said, "You just gotta make sure she's safe, and leave the rest up to her. When she stops fitting, you've just gotta let her sleep, cause they knock the shit outta her." _

_Faith grunted as her convulsions suddenly stopped, and Kennedy quickly rolled her over onto her side. Gently brushing the hair away from her face, she rubbed her back soothingly, as her friend fought for breath. "That's it chica." she said softly. She looked up and saw Buffy looking at her with a soft smile on her face. "What?" she asked curiously._

"_I've just never seen you like this before, you two are really close aren't you." Buffy asked softly._

"_Faith's like a sister to me. She's the strongest person I know, but when she's like this, she's also the most vulnerable." Kennedy said, glancing back down at her friend. "She needs someone to look out for her." _

"_You knew this was going to happen didn't you." Buffy stated gently, "Is that why we had movie night?" _

_Kennedy nodded, "Yeah, she's not been herself all day. When she's knocked off like that it only means one thing, and we wanted to make sure she'd be somewhere safe when it happened." _

"_She's lucky to have friends like you." Buffy said._

"_She'd do the same for any of us." Kennedy said simply, stroking her friends hair affectionately. "Faith?" Kennedy shouted, shaking her gently, "Fai, can you hear me?" Her only response was a slight groan from her prone friend. "She still ain't with us yet, think it'll be a while before she comes round." she explained. "Do you think, you could help me get her through to the couch? I don't wanna leave her on the floor." _

"_Yeah, sure." Buffy said, moving over to Faith's side. Between them they carefully sat Faith up, and they each draped an arm round their neck. Faith moaned softly in protest. Without thinking, Buffy kissed her head tenderly. When she pulled back, she saw Kennedy smiling at her knowingly, and she couldn't help but blush._

"_She really likes you, you know." she said, "She might joke about it, but you can see it in her eyes." _

_Buffy was surprised to find herself hoping that it was true, and found that she wanted to know more about Faith. "I hope so." she whispered._

_(( END FLASHBACK ))_

She was brought back to reality by the sounds of a thud, and when she looked up she saw Kennedy and Faith sitting next to each other in the street, and rubbing their heads, and groaning.

"That's what's called Karma people." Xander crowed, he carried on laughing despite the glared he was receiving from the two girls.

"Okay what did I miss?" Buffy asked.

Willow sighed, "Just our girlfriends skating head first into each other. If they where trying to knock some sense into each other I think it failed."

Buffy stood up and dusted off her jeans, before making her way over to the two brunettes, who where still sitting there with a dazed look in their eyes. "Okay, time out. You two have had enough excitement for one day." she said, helping her girlfriend up, while Willow did the same.

"The Buffster is right, we're supposed to be relaxing people. We all have highly stressful days ahead of us, and today is a day for hanging with my peeps and de-stressing." Xander said, "So what would you beautiful ladies like to do?" he asked.

"Ooh why don't we all go ice-"

"Kennedy I swear to God if you where going to say skating I will slap you." Willow said her resolve face firmly in place, causing Kennedy to snap her jaw shut. "Sweetie try and take you're mind off the game tomorrow okay." she added gently.

"Fine." Kennedy mumbled.

"How bout ice cream?" Faith asked, slinging her arm round Buffy's shoulder.

"That's my kind of thinking." Xander replied.

**Tbc.**

**A/N: There will be flashbacks a plenty in this fic, or as my friend calls them, Backflashes. Sorry if there was any mistakes, I didn't have time to re-read this, please R & R **


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: Hi sorry for the delay in updating, life****'****s been kind of hectic at the moment. Plus I just got a kitten, who likes to attack me whenever I go near my laptop :-) Actually started writing this chapter a little differently, which turned into chapter 6 lol, still not too happy with this chap though. Thanks for the reviews, and thanks again for reading this fic :-)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, Joss owns everything, except Jessie, sadly she's mine. **

**Chapter 5**

Having ate nearly the entire stock of ice cream at the ice cream parlour, the gang had decided to end their evening in the bronze. Xander, Buffy, Willow and Kennedy, where currently sat on the sofa's near the back of the room, while Faith was at the bar ordering their drinks.

Xander stretched his arms above his head, and glanced around the club, he couldn't help but groan as he saw a familiar face amongst the crowd. "Don't look, but everybody's favourite girl is sitting three tables away." he said, sighing as his friends automatically looked. "Does anybody actually listen to me." He mumbled.

"You've got to be joking me, what the hell is she doing here?!" Kennedy exclaimed, as she laid eyes on Jessie.

"Sadly she's got the same right to be here as we do." Willow said.

"Doesn't mean we have to make her feel wanted." Kennedy said, standing up from the sofa.

Willow automatically grabbed Kennedy's hand, and pulled her back down beside her. "Sweetie, just leave it. We don't want to start any trouble tonight." she said calmly.

"Yeah, we're supposed to be having fun, and enjoying ourselves before all the stress of tomorrow." Xander said, reminding them of why they were here in the first place.

"Fine, but if she so much as farts in my direction, I'm going over there." Kennedy grumbled.

"Nice analogy sweetie." Willow said, patting Kennedy on the arm.

Buffy looked over at Jessie anxiously, so far it seemed as if the other girl was oblivious to their presence, and if Buffy had her say it would remain that way. "Guys, please don't mention Jessie to Faith." she said addressing her friends, "I'm trying to get Faith to relax, and if she knows that Jessie's here, there's no chance of that happening."

"Sure thing Buffy." Willow replied, nudging her girlfriend, when she didn't acknowledge what Buffy had said. "Kennedy."

"Okay." Kennedy grumbled, "But I'm not happy about it." she said.

Xander grinned, "We can see that."

"What's with you K." Faith said, as she returned to the table with their drinks, "You got a face like a cats ass." she said.

"Ha ha, laugh it up Lehane." Kennedy said, reaching over for her drink, "You're just jealous cause you know I'm gonna score more goals than you tomorrow."

Faith snorted, as she sat down next to Buffy. "You wish chump."

"Hey!" Willow said loudly, "No hockey talk at the table." she said scolding the pair of them.

"Yes mom." The two brunettes replied.

Buffy sighed happily, and leaned her head against Faith's shoulder, smiling softly as she felt Faith's lips press against her head. Lifting her head from it's comfortable position, she looked up into her girlfriends eyes.

"You feel like tearing up the dance floor B?" Faith whispered huskily, her hand tenderly tracing Buffy's cheek.

"You bet baby." She replied, kissing Faith roughly, before grabbing her hand and dragging her towards the dance floor.

Xander shook his head in something akin to a mixture of awe and amusement as he watched his friends turn up the heat, "And this is them relaxing?" he said, turning to Kennedy and Willow, who where currently proceeding to make out as if there lives depended on it. Sighing heavily, he stood up and decided to head out onto the dance floor himself, "I wish I was a lesbian." He muttered.

* * *

Jessie slammed back another shot, whilst pretending to pay attention to the cute blonde beside her. While the girl was cute, and was showing definite interest in her. Jessie couldn't draw herself away from Buffy Summers, who was currently doing some seriously dirty dancing, with her bitch of a girlfriend. She could feel the jealousy churning away in the pit of her stomach, as she watched Faith dancing with what should be, her girl.

Faith Lehane. Those two words where enough to send Jessie into a violent rage, and she wanted nothing more than to put the bitch in her place. Faith had everything Jessie ever wanted, she had the respect of the school, the hockey team, and she had the hottest girl in school as her girlfriend. The bitch had her life made, and Jessie wanted a piece of the action.

She couldn't help but smile as she saw Buffy break away and head towards the toilets, she saw Faith heading back towards her table where the rest of her loser friends sat, before changing direction and heading outside. Grabbing her coat, she quickly downed the rest of her beer, before heading outside after her.

* * *

Faith sighed as she felt the cool night air against her skin, moving away from the door to the club, she found a wall to lean against, before she pulled her packet of smokes out of her back pocket. Tapping one out of the packet, she was just about to put it in her mouth, when she saw Jessie come stumbling out of the club. "You gotta be kiddin me." she moaned. Holding back the urge to run over and kick the shit out of the girl, she quietly ducked into the alley behind her, not wanting or needing to have a confrontation. Not when today had been so good.

However luck wasn't on her side, as soon as she'd lit her cigarette, Jessie poked her head round the corner of the alley. "Hey, if it isn't my best friend." she crowed, making her way towards Faith.

"Listen Jessie, I'm not in the fuckin mood okay." Faith said warily, taking a much needed drag, before blowing the smoke into the air.

Jessie frowned, "And what makes you think I'm here to start trouble." she said, feigning hurt. "I jus wanna talk." she slurred, stepping closer to Faith, who was able to smell the drink on her breath. "I jus wanna say I'm not too happy about getting dropped from the game tomorrow."

"And whose fault is that, you started all this shit, so you've only got yourself to blame." Faith said.

"If you would leave Buffy and let me have my shot, I might let all this go." Jessie said.

"She doesn't belong to me, and she sure as _shit _doesn't belong to you." Faith spat. "If she woke up tomorrow and decided she wanted to be with you, I wouldn't stop her, cause that would be her choice. But there's no way in hell, I'm gonna let you fuck things up between us."

"Hey, I'm sure you'll manage that all by yourself." Jessie said, her smirk was short lived as Faith's fist collided with her face. "Oh you'll regret that Lehane." she growled, rubbing her hand across her mouth. Throwing a backhand at Faith, she caught her upside the head, and sent her into the wall behind her. Momentarily stunned, Faith never saw the knee that was heading for her stomach, she doubled over, winded, unable to block the right hook Jessie sent flying towards her face.

Faith could feel the blood trickle down her chin from her split lip. She managed to get her arm up, to block another punch, that would have had her seeing stars, and retaliated with a kick that sent Jessie stumbling backwards. Pulling herself up, Faith panted as she tried to get her breath back. She could hear Kennedy shouting her name from the end of the alley, but before she could reply, Jessie was back up on her feet, and rushing towards her.

* * *

Buffy frowned as she came back from the toilet and saw no sign of her girlfriend, "Where's Faith?" she asked curiously.

Kennedy broke away from her marathon make out session with Willow, and looked around her, "I don't know. She might have gone out for a smoke. She was here a minute ago." she looked over and saw Xander returning from the dance floor, "Hey did you see where Faith went?" she asked.

"Yeah she passed me on the way outside, said she was going to get some fresh air." he commented sitting back down on the couch.

"I'll go and see if she's okay." Buffy said, grabbing her coat from the back of the couch.

Willow glanced at her watch, "Guys it's getting late, we should probably head home, if we want to make sure we're all rested for the big day tomorrow." she said, earning nods of agreement from the rest of her friends.

"Lets go ladies." Xander said, slinging his arm over her and Buffy's shoulder and escorting them out of the club. Kennedy rolled her eyes, and headed out ahead of them to find her best friend.

When she got outside she frowned as she saw no immediate sign of Faith, after calling her name and hearing no reply, she began to get worried. Sounds of a scuffle from the alley opposite, caught her attention, and what she saw when she neared the entrance caused her blood to boil. Faith was slumped against the alley wall, blood coating her face and top, as Jessie stood above her. "Get the hell away from her!" She yelled, grabbing Jessie, and flinging her away from Faith, before stalking over to her and getting up into her face. "What the fuck is your problem!!"

"You and your dipshit friend over there are my problem, cause of her I'm not on the team tomorrow." she spat angrily, before her face split into a grin. "And now it looks like she won't be either."

Kennedy growled and slammed her fist into Jessie's face, sending her flying back into the wall.

* * *

Buffy, Willow and Xander came out of the club to see Kennedy laying into Jessie. Scanning the area Buffy felt her heart leap in her chest, as she saw Faith lying slumped against the alley wall.

"Faith!" She cried, quickly making her way to her girlfriends side. Kneeling beside her, she was relieved to see that she was conscious, however blood was dripping from her lip and a cut above her right eye.

"I-I'll go and bring the car round." Willow said, before rushing away.

Buffy gently cupped Faith's face in her hands, "Baby I need you to tell me where it hurts." she asked gently, however Faith merely looked up at her with a dazed expression. "Faith, did you hurt your head?" she asked, carefully running her hands through her hair, checking for any signs of injury.

"No, jus stings." she slurred, looking round the alley in confusion. "Smells funny here, an there's too many lights." she said, rubbing roughly at her eyes.

Buffy recognised the signs of an oncoming seizure, and gently pulled Faith away from the wall. "I know baby, just lay here for a minute while Willow gets the car." she said softly, coaxing Faith to lay down in the alley, with her head resting in her lap.

"Don't take me home B." Faith pleaded, "They won't let me play tomorrow if they see me like this." she slurred, still rubbing at her eyes.

"Sssh, it's okay. I won't take you home." she replied, stroking her hair soothingly, although she knew there was no way, that Faith would be fit enough to play in tomorrows game. "We'll go to my house baby okay." Buffy saw Faith's eyes roll back in her head, and felt her body stiffen in her arms, before she started convulsing. She continued to whisper words of comfort, knowing that some part of her girlfriend could still hear her.

Xander looked over and saw that Kennedy had beaten Jessie to the ground, rushing over to her side, he grabbed a hold of her before she could kick Jessie, where she lay. Kennedy squirmed in his grasp as she desperately tried to get at the other girl.

"Fucking let me go!" she yelled, "You saw what she did to Faith!"

"Kennedy stop, she's not worth it." Xander said tightening his grip on Kennedy as she fought to get at Jessie's prone form. "Faith's had a seizure, we need to get her home." he said, knowing this was the one thing that would break through Kennedy's rage.

Kennedy immediately relaxed when she heard her the mention of her friend's name, knowing that her safety and well being was more important, than pounding sense into the girl before her. "Okay." She said, shrugging out of Xander's grip, and holding up her hands. "I think I made my point." she said, looking at Jessie in disdain, as she glared back at her from her position on the ground.

"I'll see you at the game tomorrow Sanchez." Jessie spat.

"I wouldn't count on it _O'Connor_." Kennedy said, before turning and making her way over to her friends, leaving Jessie to lay there and ponder what she meant.

**Tbc. **

**A/N: The next chapter should hopefully be up within the next couple of weeks, after that it might be a wee while, as I'm hoping to get the next chapter of Carnage finished, then maybe Fighting you're demons :-) **


	6. Chapter 6

**Authors note: Thanks to everybody for reading and reviewing, it keeps me going lol. Hope you like this chapter, managed to finish it sooner than I'd thought. Enjoy :-)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, Joss owns everything.**

**Chapter 6**

Faith was currently laying on her side on Buffy's bed, recovering from the second seizure she'd had, when she'd woken up this morning. To say Buffy was concerned was an understatement, she'd already phoned Trudi and Michael, and explained to them what had happened last night. She knew Faith would be pissed when she found out, but Buffy felt her foster parents had a right to know, besides, when Trudi found out what had happened, she'd automatically made an appointment with Faith's neurologist. They couldn't go on like this, and if Faith had her way, she would just brush everything under the carpet.

Looking at the clock, she saw that Faith had already missed last night's, and this morning's medication doses, due to her seizures. It was obvious to Buffy that her medication wasn't working, but without it, she'd have a rough day ahead of her.

Sighing softly, she gently traced her fingers over the cut above Faith's eye, once she'd cleaned all the blood off, it hadn't looked as bad as she'd first thought, and was now starting to scab over. As was the cut on her lip. Her right eye was starting to bruise, and would no doubt become one hell of a shiner in the next couple of days. "What's going on in that head of yours?" she whispered, caressing Faith's forehead.

She was startled as her bedside phone rang, breaking the peaceful silence in the room. Picking up the handset she carefully made her way off the bed, and went to stand just outside the bedroom door, so that she'd be able to keep an eye on her girlfriend, before answering the phone.

"Hello?" she answered,

_/__Buffy how__'__s Faith?__/ _Kennedy asked.

"Not so good, she had another seizure this morning." She replied, her voice thick with concern, "There's no way she's going to be fit enough to play."

Kennedy cursed under her breath, _/Damn, it'll kill her to miss the game_./ she said sadly, she knew her best friend had been looking forward to this day for ages. _/ I'll have a word with the coach, see what I can do./_ she said hopefully.

"You have a plan don't you." Buffy stated, detecting the determination in her friends voice.

Kennedy's smirk was audible down the phone, _/ You could say that, there's no way I'd let Faith miss this game. When she wakes up tell her not to worry, special K's got it covered./ _

Buffy laughed, as she made her goodbye's and hung up the phone, shaking her head in amusement, she went back into her room, wondering what scheme her friend was going to pull this time.

* * *

It was a couple of hours later and Willow was currently sat in the rink canteen, patiently waiting on Kennedy who was downstairs, speaking to her hockey coach. To be honest, Willow was doubtful that Kennedy would be able to do anything about Faith missing the game. But her girlfriend was stubborn, especially where her friends where concerned. Looking up from her coffee, she caught sight of Kennedy coming towards her, and the expression on her face didn't look promising.

"So how did the talk with your coach go?" she asked, as Kennedy sat in the seat across from her.

"Not so good." Kennedy sighed.

"What, why? what did he say?" Willow asked, laying her hand on top of her girlfriends.

"He said there was no way that he was cancelling the game, just because we where one player down." she said, "So I quit."

Willow gawked at her, "You what!" she shouted, earning some strange looks from the people sitting nearby. "B-But you love hockey, and it's the finals a-and…you _love_ hockey!" she stressed.

"I know, but I told him, if Faith wasn't playing, then there was no way in hell I was gonna play." Kennedy said firmly. "I wasn't the only one that quit though, Caridad, and Rhona did as well."

"Really?"

"I think Vi and Molly quit too." she added. "Actually I'm pretty sure the whole team decided they weren't going to play."

"W-What…how?" Willow stammered, not quite believing what she was hearing.

Kennedy grinned, "You should have been there Will, it was like a scene out of Spartacus or something. I just stood up and said I wasn't playing if Faith wasn't playing, and the rest of the girls did the same, apart from Jessie of course, the coach was gonna put her back on the team to replace Faith, until we all decided to quit. So he had no choice but to postpone the game."

"Wow, I wish I'd been there." Willow said wistfully.

"You should've seen the look on Jessie's face, priceless, I wish I'd had a camera." she said sighing. "I might take art classes, just so I can capture the mixture of outrage and disbelief that was on her face. I'm thinking it would look good in oils, and I could hang it in the bathroom."

Willow laughed, "You're such a dork." she said swatting her arm gently.

"Yeah but I'm you're dork." Kennedy grinned. "And don't you forget it toots."

"Don't think I haven't tried." Willow said, "So what do you want to do now that we've got an unofficial day off?" she asked.

"Well, I'm thinking we could head home and go back to bed, seeing as we missed out on snuggle time, cause I dragged us down here." Kennedy said.

"Snuggle time? Is that what we're calling it now?" Willow said her smile widening as she saw Kennedy nod in reply, "Well missy you have yourself a deal."

* * *

Buffy was trying to keep Faith occupied, and her mind off of the hockey game that she was supposed to be playing in, this afternoon. So far her plan seemed to be working, Faith hadn't mentioned anything about the game, and was sitting quietly in front of the TV. Faith was still weak from the seizures, and trying to get her to sit still and rest was like pulling teeth.

"B what time is it?" Faith asked, absentmindedly channel surfing at seventy miles an hour.

"Half one." Buffy called from the kitchen.

"Shit! The game starts in a couple of hours!" she exclaimed, pushing up from the couch, and stumbling slightly, "What the fuck am I gonna do, I forgot all about practice this morning. Shit!" she cursed, running a hand though her hair, as she tried to gather her thoughts.

"Baby the reason why you missed practice this morning, was because you'd had a seizure, which wasn't your fault." Buffy said, as she came through from the kitchen, with a large bowl of popcorn. "Kennedy told me to tell you not to worry about the game, she's taking care of everything." she said calmly.

"I need to get down to the rink B." Faith said, not seeming to have heard anything her girlfriend had just said. "I'll be okay, once I get to the rink." she said, whether she was trying to convince Buffy or herself she wasn't sure.

"Faith you can barely walk, and if you expect me to believe that you're going to be able to skate you've got another thing coming." Buffy stated, her tone holding no room for argument. "Now sit down, eat the food that I've made, and relax." she said, "You're getting yourself worked up, and I don't want you fitting again" she said gently pushing her girlfriend back down onto the sofa.

"But it's the finals -"

"Faith! We're not having this conversation again." Buffy said, trying desperately trying to ignore the pout that was appearing on Faith's face. "I've told you, you've nothing to worry about, Kennedy's taking care of everything."

"Fine." Faith mumbled, grabbing a handful of popcorn. "But I'm not happy."

Buffy sighed and shook her head in amusement, "Two peas in a pod." she murmured, recalling Kennedy's words from last night. She could only hope Kennedy gave them some news soon, or she'd have to tie Faith to the couch, in order to get her to stay put.

* * *

It was half an hour later when Buffy looked up from the couch as she heard the front door open, "Hey guys." she called, as she saw that it was Kennedy and Willow.

"Hey." Willow said, "I come baring gifts." she said, holding up the bag in her hand. "I've got movies, chocolatey goodness, ice cream and food from the deli that I know you love so much." she said, handing Buffy food in a plastic container.

"Ooh you're a life saver Will." Buffy said.

Seeing the grimace on Faith's face, Willow couldn't help but laugh. "Don't worry sweetie, we stopped at McDonalds as well." she said, gesturing to Kennedy, who handed her an extra large big mac meal.

"Sweet." Faith crowed.

"That'll keep her quiet for a few seconds." Buffy said in amusement, as Faith tore into the big mac, like there was no tomorrow. "I'll get us plates and juice."

"I'll come and help you." Willow said, following Buffy into the kitchen.

"Hey chica, how are you feeling?" Kennedy asked, flopping onto the couch next to Faith.

Faith shrugged, "Okay, everythin's still kinda fuzzy tho." she replied, "Heard I got my ass handed to me by Jessie."

"Sadly true, but don't worry, I knocked seven shades of shit out of her for ya." Kennedy said.

Faith groaned, "I always miss the good stuff."

"Anyway, I'm here cause I've got some news that'll cheer you up." Kennedy said grinning like a mad woman.

"Jessie's moving to the south pole?" Faith asked hopefully.

"No, my news isn't as good as that, but almost." she said, "I managed to convince the coach to postpone the game, so you can play."

"What, how the hell did you manage that?!" she asked.

"Me and the rest of the team said we'd quit if he didn't postpone it." Kennedy replied, shrugging as if it was no big deal. "Fai, they where gonna replace you with _Jessie._" she said grimacing.

Faith could only stare at her in disbelief, "Shit." she said, shaking her head. "How'd everyone agree to that?" she asked.

"You're kidding me right?" Kennedy asked, "Faith, the whole team looks up to you, you're our captain. Since you took over from Jessie, we've won nearly every game this season." she explained, "Sides, everyone knows what happened between you and Jessie last night, there was no way anyone was going to play, not with her as captain."

"Damn. That's some shit you pulled K." Faith said, giving her a small grin, "So when's the game now?"

"Next Saturday." Kennedy said, stealing some of Faith's fries. "So you've got to behave yourself in the meantime, cause there's no way in hell I'll be able to get the game postponed a second time."

"I'll do my best." she said. "Can't promise nothin, not if Jessie's still sniffin around."

"Well you know I've got you're back." Kennedy said, stealing another fry from her friend, and ignoring the death glare that was being sent her way. "Hey just you remember who carried this food _all _the way over here." she said.

"K you drove here, you jus had to carry it from the car to the house." Faith said. "Surely you're arms ain't that weak." she said snorting.

"Was that a dig at me?" Kennedy asked, "Cause if it was, then I'll just be taking that food back." she said, shaking a finger at her friend. Her words however had the desired effect as her friend immediately went back to shovelling the food into her face, as if her life depended on it.

**Tbc. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note: Hey sorry it's been so long between updates, my laptop exploded, and lost all my documents with it, took ages to save up for a new one, but here I am lol. This chapter is a flashback that takes place after the flashback from the previous chapter. Hope that makes sense, enjoy :)**

**Chapter 7 **

_**//Flashback//**_

It had been a week since Faith had collapsed in Kennedy's kitchen, and Buffy was trying not to molly coddle the younger girl. She'd found that she was walking on egg shells around Faith, scared that the slightest thing could trigger a seizure. Buffy knew she was being stupid, and kept telling herself that she'd known Faith for nearly four months now, and in that entire time she could only recall the other girl having had one seizure. The chances of her having another where slim, and the other's knew what to do if that happened. But the blonde couldn't help herself, she was a naturally cautious person, and she couldn't help but worry about the other girl, not to mention the fact that the brunette played hockey, which was dangerous enough for somebody without Faith's condition.

It was her concern for Faith that had finally led her to the school library, a place she had never ventured before, and judging from the lack of life in the room, neither had anyone else. She'd found herself staring at the array of books before her and immediately felt lost, however the school librarian was helpful enough to point her in the right direction.

She was currently sat at the large table, a mound of books before her. Reaching for the first book, she was about to open the cover when her redheaded friend came bouncing into the room. Quickly gathering the books together as casually as she could, she turned to face her friend, hoping to God she was managing to pull off the innocent expression she was aiming for_._

"Hey Buffy." Willow chirped, sitting herself down beside her and dumping her bag on the table. "Ooh are you studying? Do you mind if I study with you?" she asked, removing her books from her bag, not giving her blonde friend a chance to reply. "What are you reading? Anything I can help you with?" she asked curiously.

"Me, oh, nothing really. Just catching up on…stuff." Buffy replied. "You know things that need, catching up on,…easy things. I'm good." she added, hoping that Willow would drop the issue. Fate however didn't appear to be on the blondes side, as the librarian chose that moment to interrupt.

"Miss Summers, I appear to have found another book on the subject which may interest you." The dark haired young Englishman commented. "Oh hello Willow, how are you?" he asked.

"Hi Wes, I'm fine, just reading up on my math." Willow replied, smiling at the young librarian.

"Well if either of you girl need anything be sure to inform me, I'll just be in my office." he said, handing the book to Buffy, who tried to grab it quickly in order to hide it from her inquisitive friend, who was apparently a lot quicker than she realised.

Buffy could only watch as at first Willow frowned as she read the title of the book, then realisation flashed across her face and she looked up grinning, "Living with epilepsy? Buffy Summers is this what I think it is?" she asked, not needing conformation from her friend, as Buffy turned seven shades of red, mortified at being found out. "Buffy, it's only natural to read up on Faith's condition, we've all done it. You aren't the first and you won't be the last." Willow said, trying to reassure the blonde. "You know you could've asked me." she stated gently.

"I know, but, I didn't, I mean…" Buffy sighed, "I don't even know why I'm making a big deal out of it."

Willow smiled, "Because you care." she said softly, it was no secret that Buffy had feelings for Faith, the way the two girls acted together, even a blind man could see there was chemistry. However somehow neither of her friends where aware of the growing attraction between them.

"Of course I do, she's my friend." Buffy replied, somewhat defensively. "I just want to know what to do if, when, it happens again." she added, knowing full well that it inevitably would.

Willow nodded, looking at Buffy with her resolve face, she stood from the table. "Okay, come with me." she ordered.

"What, where?" Buffy asked, hurriedy grabbing her bag and books, as she followed the retreating form of her friend.

"We're going to see someone who can answer all your questions." she replied mysteriously, grinning at the look of confusion on Buffy's face.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Buffy stared incredulously at the sign on the door in front of her, before turning to stare at her friend.

"The school nurse?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yup, that's what it says on that big shiny sign." Willow replied brightly, "Would you rather sit in the library staring at a load of books?" she asked, knowing full well what the blondes answer would be.

"No, but…the school nurse?!"

"Don't tell Faith, but I came here to speak to the nurse when I first found out about her epilepsy. She's really good Buffy, she has leaflets and things, ooh and they have pictures, and diagrams!" she exclaimed. "Coloured ones." she added.

Buffy sighed, "Okay, but can you come in with me, make sure I ask the right things."

"Sure." Willow said. "Plus if you behave you'll get a lollipop." the redhead grinned.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Kennedy ducked as the hockey puck she'd been eagerly awaiting flew towards her head at lightening speed. Her team-mate behind her wasn't so lucky.

"Shit Vi you okay?" Kennedy asked, helping her back onto her feet.

The other girl groaned, her fingers feeling the new dent that now adorned her helmet. "Sure, once the cartoon birdies stop screeching at me."

They watched as Faith skated sheepishly towards them. "Sorry Vi, didn't realised I'd hit it so hard."

"S'okay Faith, think I'm going to go and sit out the rest of practice though. At least until the room stops spinning." Vi mumbled, skating gingerly towards the bench.

"Okay what's your problem?" Kennedy asked, spinning to face her best friend.

Faith looked at her in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

"Well the fact that you've managed to concuss half the hockey team." She exclaimed, gesturing wildly towards the bench, where five of their groggy team-mates sat, matching dents on their helmets. "That kinda suggests that somethings buggin you."

"Nothin's buggin me, I'm five by five." Faith replied shrugging.

"Bullshit." Kennedy spat, "You've been acting weird since we had movie night last week. This is about Buffy isn't it." she stated.

"No!"

"For some reason you're pissed that she saw you having a seizure."

Faith sighed, "I ain't pissed off at her exactly." she mumbled. "I'm pissed off at myself."

Kennedy looked at her in bewilderment. "What?"

"I mean I fuckin hate being like this you know, I jus wanna be normal. I didn't want B to know about it, then I go and have a fuckin fit and scare the shit outta her, an she's been acting weird ever since."

"Fai she's just concerned about you. Hell we all are." she replied, "And Buffy's not like other people, she wouldn't stop being your friend because of that. She's a classy girl, not to mention hot." she added grinning impishly.

"Damn right." Faith said smiling dreamily.

"HA busted." Kennedy yelled slapping Faith's arm. "I so knew you had the hots for Buffy."

"What! No I…" she started to protest, however seeing the look on her friends face, she knew there was no hiding it. "Okay fine yeah, she's hot, and I like her. So what." she said defensively.

"Well let's just say Willow now owes me twenty bucks." she crowed, quickly skating away from Faith as she started to give chase.

"Yeah you'd better run!" Faith yelled.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Buffy returned home that evening, armed with leaflets, of different shapes and sizes. She had to admit that Willow was right, as usual. She'd gotten the answers she needed, with the added benefit of a couple of lollipops thrown in.

Throwing herself onto her bed, she lay her leaflets beside her and glared at them. "Okay brain, prepare to absorb and remember what you see before you." she said, grabbing the nearest brightest booklet she began to read. She was halfway through the first sentence when a knock at the window sent everything flying.

Looking up her jaw dropped when she saw it was Faith, for a split second she thought her brain had melted.

Hurriedly gathering the leaflets together she flung them under her comforter, and ran to the window.

"Hey B." Faith greeted. "You okay?" she asked, as she gracefully slid into the room.

"Uh yeah I'm fine." she stammered. Her gaze quickly scanning the room to make sure she hadn't missed any leaflets. She didn't want Faith to know what she'd been reading up on, she could already tell the other girl was uncomfortable about what had happened. If Faith knew that she'd developed a sudden interest in Epilepsy, she would run a mile.

"You sure? You seem kinda…antsy." Faith said concern evident in her voice.

"No, it's just I was in the middle of…uh, I was… rearranging my underwear drawer." The blonde blurted, instantly regretting the words as soon as they'd left her mouth.

Faith raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "Your underwear drawer? Damn wish I'd got here earlier." she smirked, causing the blonde to turn a deeper shade of red.

"W-Was there something you wanted?" Buffy asked, quickly trying to divert the current topic of conversation.

Faith sobered instantly. "Uh yeah, I was wanting to see if you where okay, and um maybe talk bout what happened the other day?"

Buffy looked at Faith in surprise, she wanted to talk? The dark haired girl wasn't known for her willingness to talk, especially about herself. "Okay." she replied softly. This was going to be interesting.

Tbc.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Author's note: This chapter follows on from the last. Thanks for all the reviews, much appreciated. Glad to know that people haven't forgotten about this fic lol. Hope you enjoy this chapter. **

Buffy sat on the bed patiently waiting for Faith to start talking, she had no idea what the other girl was going to say.

"I came to apologise for what happened." Faith started, scratching absently at the tattoo on her arm.

Buffy frowned, "Apologise?"

Faith shrugged, "Wasn't right for you to see that, and I'm sorry I freaked you out."

"Faith you didn't freak me out, sure there was some freaking out, but it was me being clueless as usual. It wasn't your fault." She said gently. "I only freaked out cause I was scared."

"Of me?" Faith asked, her face giving nothing away.

"For you." Buffy replied. "I didn't know what was happening, have to admit it was the first time I'd seen someone have a seizure. That and the fact I didn't know you're epileptic."

Faith sighed. "Yeah about that, sorry for not tellin you before, kinda slipped my mind. Most people round here know, just assumed someone might of blabbed it to ya."

Buffy smiled, "I've heard lots of things about a certain Faith Lehane, good things of course." she added quickly, "But that wasn't one of them."

Faith smiled, "Bet you have, people round here like to gossip." she said coming to sit opposite the blonde on the bed. "So we're cool then?" she asked hesitantly.

"The coolest." Buffy said, reaching over to squeeze Faith's hand.

"Cool." Faith smirked, "I was sorta worried, thought I'd scared you off."

"What why would you think that?"

"You've been acting kinda distant lately. Thought you didn't wanna hang around me anymore, it's happened before." Faith hesitated, "An ex of mine, she was cool with it at first till she saw me actually have a seizure, then she freaked and ran out."

"What a bitch." Buffy spat, seeing the shock on Faith's face she wasn't sure if it was from the fact that this was the first time the other girl had heard her swear, or the fact that she was on her side. "What she was, or is a bitch." she said defensively.

"I know, just never heard you swear before. Think I kinda like it." Faith said, grinning lecherously, causing the blonde to blush.

"Well don't get too used to it. I've filled my monthly quota for swearing."

"You gotta quota? Damn, don't worry any cussing you need done, I'm your girl. Just point me where you need me."

"Might take you up on that offer at cheerleading practice." Buffy groaned. "Anyway, what I was going to say was, you don't have to worry about me freaking out and ditching you. Well the freak out's are part of the Buffy Summers package, but I freak out about most things so don't worry about that, babbling may also be an occasional problem."

"Babbling and occasional freak out's I can handle, used to them with hanging out with Red." Faith said, "Sounds like you're meant to be part of our group." she said laughing.

"Yeah." Buffy grinned. "But I mean it Faith, I'm your friend. That includes the whole package." she said seriously.

"You sure."

"I'm sure."

Faith pulled Buffy into a hug, "Thanks B."

"Your welcome." Buffy replied, enjoying the feel of Faith's arms surrounding her, she momentarily tightened her grip on the other girl, before releasing her.

Faith coughed and tried to compose herself, "Well spose I'd better go, it's getting late." she said gesturing towards the window. "I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"I'll be there with bells on." Buffy nodded, watching as Faith climbed onto the window sill.

"Kay, night B."

"Night F."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The next day found Faith and Xander eating their lunch outside, soaking up some rays while they stuffed their faces. Kennedy ruffled Faith's hair as she came over to join them, dumping her bag on the table and sitting opposite her friends.

"So guys, how's tricks?" she asked, removing her food from her bag, and proceeding to shovel it into her mouth. Ignoring the glare Faith was sending her way as she tried to smooth her hair down.

"We're just sitting here watching the world go by." Xander said innocently.

Kennedy snorted, "Yeah that and the cheerleaders just finished practice. Don't think I didn't see you two eyeing them up. Had to wade through a puddle of drool just to get to the table."

"Your jus jealous cause you ain't allowed to eye up the talent." Faith grinned, "Otherwise Red will kill your ass."

"So." Kennedy grumbled. "We all know there's only one cheerleader you're interested in Lehane."

"We do?" Xander piped up, dragging his eyes away from the gaggle of girls passing by their table. "Whose caught Faith's attention this time?" he asked mischievously.

"No one aight." she snapped glaring pointedly at Kennedy.

"Ohh touchy." Kennedy smirked. "Aww Faithy's got a crush."

"Kennedy." Faith growled in warning.

"Okay, okay, you're secrets safe with me." she said taking pity on her friend, especially when she saw the object of her affection heading this way.

"Hi guy's" Buffy chirped, sitting down across from Faith, and stealing one of her cookies. Xander winced and shot a look at Faith, waiting for the inevitable backlash to occur, everybody knew not to take food from the dark haired girl, not if you valued your life.

When he saw that Faith had started blushing, his mouth dropped open in shock as he put two and two together. "Oh my God." he exclaimed, pointing at Buffy. "She's a cheerleader!"

Buffy looked at him in confusion. "Yeah, you know that, you've been to see me cheer Xander." she stated,. "And I'm wearing my cheerleading uniform." she stated slowly, as if explaining it to a small child. She didn't see the look of fear on Faith's face as she realised that Xander now knew about her secret crush.

"Uh Xander remember we've got that thing to do." Faith said, trying to stop him from blurting out anything else.

"What?"

"Yeah the 'thing' don't tell me you've forgotten." Kennedy exclaimed shaking her head in disappointment. "We told you like three times already."

Xander looked mildly panicked, trying to remember what it was he was supposed to have forgotten. "Oh yeah the 'thing' spose I'd better go and do that 'thing' I need to do." he said bluffing. He allowed Faith to drag him away from the table. Leaving a puzzled Buffy in their wake.

Once they where a safe enough distance away Faith spun him round to face her. "Okay I know you know."

"You know I know what?" he asked puzzled.

"I know you know about how I feel about B." Faith said. "An I don't want you sayin anything to her or anyone else about it."

"Okay, okay. I promise I won't tell her." he said. "Even though you probably should."

"Why?"

"She might feel the same way. How will you know if you don't tell her how you feel about her." he said gently.

"Listen Xan you might always look at things in a positive light, but I've learned that ain't always the way shit goes. Chances are I'll tell her how I feel and she goes runnin in the opposite direction. I'd rather have her in my life as a friend than not have her at all, kay. So jus leave things as they are." she said frimly.

"Okay, but for the record I don't like it."

"Tough." Faith said. "Now lets get back, I've still got food to eat and I'm starved."

"Wait, what was that thing I had to do?" he asked.

"Thing? Man that was a cover to get you to stop blabbing shit at the table." Faith exclaimed.

"Oh thank God." he sighed, "Thought I'd forgotten something important."

"Don't worry when you get another girlfriend we'll remind you when it either her birthday or you're anniversary."

Xander glared at her, "I could have done with you reminding me of that, the last two relationships I was in."

"Hey man it's not my fault you didn't learn the first time, I mean how many times you gotta make that mistake." Faith said, the two friends continuing to bicker all the way back to the table.

**Tbc.**

**A/N: sorry it's so short. Please feel free to leave a review.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Chapter 9**

**Author's Notes: Hi thanks for all the reviews and feedback. Sorry for the delay, was on holiday and then had to catch up with work lol. This chapter is now real time. No more flashbacks for a wee while.**

The day of the big game had finally arrived. Willow and Xander where currently sitting near the front of the rink watching Buffy and the rest of the cheerleaders skate through their impromptu routine. The schools squad rarely cheered at hockey games, however this was the last game the Sunnydale sharks would play together, and near enough the whole school was there to support them.

Buffy skated off the ice to cheers and catcalls from the supporters, throwing off her skates, she pulled on her training shoes and ran up the steps to where her friends where sitting.

"Hey guys." She chirped, moving to squeeze into the seat between Willow and Xander.

"Liking the smooth moves out there Buffster." Xander grinned.

Buffy glared at him playfully, "Not all the squad can be blessed with my skating grace and finesse, your lucky nobody broke anything this time."

Willow snorted causing her friends to look over in amusement. "Sorry just remembered the massacre last year when Harmony broke her nose."

"Ah yes, that was a glorious day." Xander sighed.

"Kennedy and Faith weren't too happy that the game was held back until the mess was cleaned up." Buffy commented.

"We'll have to hope the Sharks win this game, or you two will have a lot of grovelling to do to cheer up your girls." Xander smirked.

Buffy and Willow looked at each other before simultaneously hitting Xander.

"What was that for?!" he exclaimed.

"You're going to jinx the game." Buffy said, Willow nodding in agreement.

"And if that happens Xander it will be you doing the grovelling not us." Willow said fixing him with her resolve face.

"Ladies this is a jinx free zone, nothing but positive vibes and goodwill floating around for all to absorb." he said.

"Nice imagery Xan." Buffy grinned. "I can only imagine what Faith would say if she heard that."

"Ooh speaking of Faith here come our girls!" Willow exclaimed. Pointing enthusiastically towards the rink as the Sharks skated out.

Xander watched in amusement as Willow and Buffy squealed and cheered as their girlfriends skated out. "I'm going to miss seeing Kennedy in her hockey gear." Willow sighed.

"Me too." Buffy sighed, her eyes glazing over as she watched Faith. "She looks so - "

"Butch?" Xander quipped, earning another slap from Buffy.

"No, I was going to say sexy." Buffy pouted.

Willow smiled dreamily as Kennedy blew a kiss her way. "That they are." she agreed.

"Okay ladies, enough with the love fest." Xander said, throwing his arm around Buffy's shoulders. "Let's see our girls give the other team hell."

"Yeah!" Willow and Buffy yelled. The three friends cheering as the game began.

* * *

"I can't watch!" Willow exclaimed, hurriedly shielding her eyes as she heard the distinctive thud of bodies colliding with the Plexiglas. "What happened?" she asked.

"Let's just say she'll feel that in the morning." Buffy winced.

Xander looked over at his red headed friend and caught her peeking through her fingers. "You are planning on watching the game at some point aren't you Wills?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm here as the supportive girlfriend." she said defensively. "And I'm planning to support my socks off, it's just I'm not so good with the crunching and squishing of body parts." she added sheepishly.

"Definitely not a fan of the squishy." Buffy agreed, before leaping out of her seat as Faith body checked the opposition halfway across the rink. "Yeah baby you show them whose boss!!!" She screamed, and then promptly sat back in her seat. Looking at Willow she smiled sheepishly, "Unless Faith's doing the squishing of course, then it's all good."

The buzzer sounded announcing the end of the second period. With one more period of the game to go, both teams where equal with three points each. The third period was going to be tense and Buffy hoped that the Sharks could pull a win out of the bag; she knew that winning this game was everything to Faith. And given the stress of the last few weeks, her girl deserved some good fortune.

Buffy couldn't help but feel some satisfaction as she saw Jessie sitting away from the rest of her team-mates. When they'd found out that she'd assaulted Faith, they had washed their hands of her, and she'd yet to play on the ice. She knew that had to sting the other girl, Jessie's love of hockey rivalled Faith's, and the fact that she wasn't being allowed to play in her final match worried Buffy somewhat. Jessie wasn't known for taking things lightly, and Buffy worried about the repercussions.

* * *

The sound of the puck smashing the back of the net caused the crowd to go wild, as Faith slammed home the goal needed to win the Sharks the final. Her team-mates flocked round her as the buzzer went signalling the end of the game.

"Hell yeah!" Faith yelled, "We only went and fucking did it!"

Kennedy grinned and slapped her on the back. "No thanks to me setting you up for that shot." she said.

"Of course, couldn't have done it without you Special K." Faith beamed. "Or the rest of you bitches."

"Spoken like a true captain." Rhona said causing the rest of the team to laugh.

Vi shook her head in amazement. "That was one hell of a game." she said. "Don't know how we pulled it off, but we did it guys."

"We sure as hell went out with a bang." Caridad said.

"Damn straight we did. I'm proud of you guys." Faith said, looking up at the seats she saw her friends waving like crazy. Waving back she realised Buffy was missing, however a flash of blonde near the edge of the rink caught her eye, and she grinned as she saw her girl standing waiting on her. "I'll be back in a sec." she said, skating over to Buffy.

Buffy beamed at her as she got closer, and stepped out onto the ice to greet her. Faith removed her helmet before grabbing Buffy in a bear hug and spinning her round on the ice.  
The small blonde squealed with laughter and threw her arms round Faith's neck. "I can't believe we fuckin won!" Faith exclaimed, setting Buffy back onto the ice before kissing her tenderly on the lips.

"I'm so proud of you; I knew you guys could do it." Buffy said, her fingers playing with the soft hairs at Faith's neck.

"Touch and go there for a while." Faith said. "Good thing I've got my own personal cheerleader, kept me goin."

"That's me cheerleader extraordinaire." Buffy said. "Think I nearly deafened Willow and Xander with all the shouting and screaming." she said sheepishly.

Faith grinned wolfishly. "Can think of the kinda screaming I wanna hear." she whispered, causing Buffy to blush.

"Why am I not surprised Miss gutter mind." Buffy said, swatting her arm affectionately. "But if you play your cards right, I won't be the only one doing the screaming." she said pulling Faith in for a steamy kiss, before breaking away from her. "Now get your cute butt over there and collect your trophy." she ordered. "And when we're finished here we've got some celebrating to do."

"Yes Ma'am." Faith grinned.

* * *

The plan was to relax and watch a few movies at her house before heading out to the bronze later to meet up with the rest of the hockey as usual nothing ever ran according to plan.

Buffy sighed and looked at the clock, Faith and the others where taking longer than expected. "I knew we should have gone with them." she muttered.

Willow nodded in agreement." Seeing as we're supposed to be the responsible ones, I think that would have been a good idea."

"I mean how long can it take to choose a couple of movies. We even wrote them a list." Buffy exclaimed.

"This is Faith and Kennedy we're talking about. They're probably arguing over whether they should get a film with Angelina Jolie, or Megan Fox." Willow replied.

Buffy rolled her eyes, "No wonder Xander volunteered to go with them."

"They could be there for days." Willow added.

"I'll give them another ten minutes, and then I'm ordering pizza just for us." Buffy said defiantly.

Willow gasped in mock horror. "You'd order pizza without Faith, you do realise the repercussions of this."

"Trust me, she can try the puppy dog eyes and pouting as much as she wants, she still won't be getting any...pizza that is." she added hastily.

"Ooh you're an evil one Buffy Summers." Willow grinned.

"So I've been told." Buffy said getting up from the couch and heading towards the kitchen. "Meanwhile I'll be the perfect host that I am, and get us some drinks."

Willow settled back and started flicking through the channels looking for anything of interest. She'd decided to settle on an old re-run of Friends when the front door flew open and a breathless Xander barrelled into the room.

"Where's Buffy?" he gasped.

"Xander what's wrong?" Willow asked, in all the years she'd know him, she'd never seen him appear so shaken.

"Faith's been taken to the hospital, Kennedy's with her." he replied.

A crash alerted them to Buffy's presence; she stood frozen in the kitchen doorway, broken glass at her feet. "What's happened?" she asked quietly, her voice sounding small as she felt dread overcome her.

"She had a seizure when we where on our way back from the store. She wouldn't stop fitting." He stuttered. "Kennedy's gone ahead with her in the ambulance."

Buffy felt her stomach drop; this was the one thing she was most afraid of. Judging by the looks on her friends faces she knew they where feeling it to. Grabbing her coat and her keys she rushed for the door, not waiting to see if her friends where following. She needed to get to the hospital, she needed to get to Faith.

**Tbc.**

**A/N: Sorry for any spelling mistakes, was rushing to post this chapter from work lol.  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Chapter 10**

**Author's Notes: Author's note: I apologise for any medical mistakes in this chap, I'm not a doctor so don't sue lol. Thanks for the reviews, as always feedback is greatly appreciated.**

Twenty minutes later and the three of them finally arrived at the hospital. Running into the ER, they where met by a rather subdued Kennedy. Willow rushed to her side, and wrapped her arms around the stunned girl. Kennedy leaned into her arms, drawing comfort from her embrace.

"Where is she?" Buffy asked, desperately wanting some answers.

Kennedy cleared her throat, "She's still in resus, Trudi's here, she went to see if she could find out what's happening." she explained.

"Are you okay sweetie?" Willow asked, running a soothing hand through Kennedy's brown locks.

Kennedy nodded and gave her a small smile. "I will be once I know she's okay." She said, the rest of the group echoing her thoughts.

* * *

Trudi was on her way back from the vending machine, clutching her stale coffee wearily. As she turned back into the main E.R waiting room she saw Faith's neurologist leaving the resus room that held her foster daughter.

"Roger how is she?" Trudi asked.

"We've had to sedate and intubate her in order to stop her convulsions, and secure her airway. Her blood results show that the levels of AED'S in her blood are virtually non existent." he explained. "Normally this would suggest that she hasn't been taking her medication."

"Roger you know as well as I do, that Faith would never do that." she said firmly. "She takes her meds like clockwork."

The doctor had the grace to look sheepish. "I know, but it had to be said. Given the increase in seizures she's been having, and seeing as she has been taking her medication, it could be that her body has either built up a tolerance to the meds, or that it's a faulty batch." he explained, "If I could have a sample of her medication I can test it to rule out the latter. In the meantime I've started her on an I.V infusion of Sodium Valproate in order to build up the levels of AED's in her bloodstream."

Trudi looked at him anxiously. "How long will she be sedated?" she asked in concern.

"It will all depend on her blood results tomorrow, if they show a high level of AED's we'll be able to stop sedation without fear of anymore seizures. We'll keep her in ICU overnight for observation and in the morning if she's stable we'll move her onto a general ward."

"Can I see her now?" Trudi asked.

"Yes but I'm afraid we'll have to limit her visitors to family only." Roger explained apologetically, as he looked over at Buffy and the others, who where waiting patiently on news of their friend.

"I'll let them know." Trudi said, "Thanks Roger."

Walking back over to the small group, she smiled reassuringly as they all stood and rushed towards her. Holding up her hand, she halted the stream of questions that where being fired rapidly towards her. "She's going to be okay." She said, "They have her sedated, and are giving her medication to prevent anymore seizures." she explained.

The small group seemed to breath a collective sigh of relief. Trudi put her arm round Buffy's shoulders and gave her a hug, feeling the young girl shudder as she pulled herself together.

"Do they know what caused it?" Buffy asked, wiping her eyes.

"Her neurologist said the levels of anticonvulsants in her blood where dangerously low, it could have happened at anytime." she replied.

"But she always takes her meds." Kennedy said defensively.

"I know. He thinks it could be a faulty batch of medication." Trudi said.

"When can we see her?" Buffy asked anxiously.

"I'm afraid they're only allowing family in at the moment while she's in ICU they're hopeful that she'll be well enough to be moved to a general wards tomorrow." she replied.

Buffy heart dropped at the news, knowing that she couldn't wait that long to see her, she needed to see that Faith was okay with her own eyes. Trudi tightened her arm around Buffy's shoulders when she felt the small girl sag beneath her arms. "Buffy sweetie you are family." she said softly. "Faith would want you there."

"Thank you." Buffy whispered.

"I'll take these ladies home." Xander said, seeing the drained look on his friends faces. "Do you want me to bring anything in for you?" he asked Trudi.

"Thanks Xander but, I think I'm okay. Michael's gone to collect some thing's for Faith." Trudi said smiling gratefully. "Now you lot had better get yourselves home, I know Faith wouldn't want you worrying."

"Tell her that when she wakes up I'm gonna kill her for scaring the shit out of me." Kennedy said, reluctantly letting Willow and Xander drag her towards the door. She was disappointed that she couldn't see her friend, however the relief that knowing she was going to be okay made her feel giddy.

"I'm sure she'll be glad to hear that." Trudi stated dryly, shaking her head in amusement, as she watched them leave reluctantly. Her foster daughter was lucky that she had a group of loyal friends, and now she owed them her life. Turning to the small blonde beside her, she hugged her gently "Come on, lets go and see our girl."

* * *

On entering Faith's room, they where met by a nurse who was recording information from the numerous machines surrounding her bed. When Buffy caught sight of her girlfriend, she felt her reserve crumble, and fought back the sob that threatened to escape her throat.

She'd never seen Faith looking so small and still. The constant beeping of the heart monitor, and the mechanical rasp of the ventilator where the only sounds that filtered through the room. Trudi's hand on her back gently edged her towards the bed. She didn't know what to do. She desperately wanted to hold Faith, but was frightened that she would disturb the wires and tubes surrounding her girlfriend.

"It's okay, the machines look worse than they are." The nurse explained gently. "It's okay to hold her hand." Buffy looked over at Trudi, and saw that the older woman was smiling encouragingly.

"Go ahead Buffy, I'll give you a few minutes alone. I'm going to see if Michael's arrived." Buffy watched as the nurse left with Faith's foster mother, before turning back to face the bed. She took in Faith's pale features, and glanced at the heart monitor, the steady beeping comforting her.

She gently took Faith's hand in her own, and brought it to her lips. Placing a soft kiss on her knuckles, she raised her left hand and caressed Faith's forehead, smoothing her hair back from her face.

"Please be okay." she whispered, her voice breaking, the tears starting to fall as reality sunk in.

**Tbc.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note: Really sorry for the delay in updating, didn't realise it had been nearly 2 months. My muse left me and I had a serious case of writers block. Hopefully this chapter makes up for it, even if it is rather short, sorry. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to read and review.**

**Chapter 11**

"I've got the results back from the labs regarding Faith's medication. It would appear that the tablets she was taking, although they look like her epilepsy meds, where in fact a placebo. Her status epilepticus episode was caused by her medication being inadvertently stopped, causing her seizure tolerance levels to lower."

"How is that possible?" Trudi exclaimed. "Are you suggesting that someone's tampered with her medication?"

"Possibly, however it could be due to a pharmaceutical error, which we will look into." he replied.

"What about these other pills she's been taking instead, are they harmful?" Michael asked.

Roger shook his head. "No, the pills themselves are harmless. Once her AED levels are back up to par, she should make a full recovery. We're going to consider taking her off the ventilator tomorrow morning, and reversing the sedation. I want to keep her here overnight for EEG testing, once I'm certain that the likely hood of her having multiple seizures has passed, I'll consider moving her out of the ICU."

"That's some good news at least." Michael said.

Roger gave them a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry I don't have anymore information for you, but I promise I'll let you know as soon as I found out who was responsible for this error. In the meantime we need to concentrate on Faith and ensuring she gets well."

Trudi and Michael nodded in agreement, "Yes of course."

They both stood to leave the office as Roger accompanied them to the door. "Thanks again Roger."

"It's the least I could do, if you have any further concerns don't hesitate to contact me."

They where heading towards the ICU when Michael looked at Trudi and sighed. "You realise we'll have to ask Buffy and the others if they've noticed anything out of the ordinary."

"What do you mean?" Trudi questioned.

"This business with the medication doesn't make any sense. Something doesn't sit right."

"There could be a simple explanation for it." Trudi reasoned. "It could be what Roger suggested, a pharmaceutical error."

"You don't believe that do you?"

Trudi sighed, "No, but I don't like to think that someone did this to Faith on purpose. I can't believe that anyone would be that callous."

* * *

Willow watched as Kennedy paced a hole in her carpet, when her girlfriend passed by her for the umpteenth time, she grabbed her wrist and pulled her down to sit on the bed beside her. "Sweetie calm down you're making me nervous."

"Sorry." she sighed. "I just…it's _Faith_ you know."

"I know sweetie."

"She's like this force to be reckoned with, I always thought she was indestructible."

Willow smiled softly, "I think we all did."

"And today, when that happened. I've never been so scared in my life." Kennedy whispered, "And I just sat there and watched as she was…God!" she exclaimed, shaking her head in disgust. "She could have died Will, and I just sat there doing nothing!"

"It's because of you that she's still alive." Willow replied calmly.

Kennedy shook her head. "Will-"

"No listen to me!" Willow ordered firmly, "There was nothing more you could have done, you phoned an ambulance because you knew that something wasn't right. When Faith's better she'll tell you that herself. And you know as well as I do, that if you and Xander hadn't been there she might not have been so lucky."

Kennedy sat there in silence, her girlfriends words confirming what part of her already knew, however she still couldn't help but feel she could have done something differently. Maybe if she _had_ Faith wouldn't be in hospital. They'd all have been at Buffy's having their movie night, or dancing it up at the Bronze. They should be celebrating together, not worrying about whether Faith would be okay or not.

"She will be okay won't she Wills." Kennedy whispered.

Willow looked into her watery eyes, and smiled softly. "Course she will Honey, she's Faith." she said simply.

* * *

Buffy was woken by someone calling her name, she could feel a hand on her shoulder shaking her gently. Blinking open her eyes, she frowned, momentarily disorientated, before the monotonous beeping of the heart monitor penetrated her senses and she remembered that she was at the hospital. Judging from the pain in her neck, she'd fallen asleep against Faith's bed.

Looking up at her girlfriend she was disappointed to see that there was no change, the rasp of the ventilator showing the seriousness of her condition. Biting back fresh tears she looked to see who had woken her, and saw Michael standing beside her. "Hey, sorry I didn't realise I'd fell asleep." she rasped.

"It's been a long day." he replied. "I'd better run you home Buffy, your mom will be worried."

"I can't leave her." She exclaimed, grasping Faith's hand tightly.

"Buffy sweetheart you need to get some sleep and something to eat. Faith wouldn't want you making yourself ill." Trudi replied softly.

Michael gently helped her to her feet, "You can come back first thing in the morning Buffy." he said gently, "She'll be okay tonight, Trudi and myself will stay with her, and we'll phone you if there are any changes." he said.

"You promise?" she asked tearfully.

"We promise."

Buffy sniffed and turned towards the bed. She studied Faith's face intently before pressing a tender kiss to her temple. "I love you baby. You better be here when I come back in the morning or I'll kill you myself." she whispered, so only Faith could hear her. She couldn't help but smile as she imagined Faith's response to that comment.

Stepping back she wiped the tears from her eyes, before reluctantly following Michael out of the room.

**TBC**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, hope you like this new chapter. **

**Chapter 12**

Glancing at the clock, Kennedy sighed as she saw that it was only six am. After her breakdown with Willow, she'd fell asleep for only a couple of hours. She'd been clock watching for the last four hours and had had enough. Looking over at her girl, she could see she was still sleeping soundly, cocooned in the blankets.

She carefully untangled herself from the sheets, trying not to disturb the redhead, and began to get changed into a pair of sweats. Going for a run was a sure way to clear her head, writing a quick note for Willow, she left it on her bedside table. She stopped by the kitchen to grab a bottle of water before quietly leaving the house.

Sticking her headphones in her ears she cranked up the volume on her ipod and set off towards the main part of town. She couldn't stop thinking about Faith, her mind kept playing the other day over and over, desperately trying to find a way that she could have done something differently.

_//Flashback//_

_Kennedy, Xander and Faith where stood huddled in the middle of the video store, trying to make the all important movie decision, Megan Fox or Angelina Jolie._

"_Okay, so we've narrowed it down to two films, Tomb Raider or Jennifer's Body." Kennedy stated._

"_Jennifer's Body!!" Faith exclaimed, "And what a fine body it is." she leered. _

"_Well I vote for Tomb Raider." Kennedy stated. _

"_Your reasons?" Xander asked. _

"_It's got Angelina Jolie in it, nuff said." Kennedy replied simply. _

"_Okay Xan what one do you wanna watch? And the title better start with Jennifer and end with Body." Faith said. _

"_How about we get Sin City? I'm in the mood for Jessica Alba." he said._

"_No! Stop overcomplicating things!" Faith exclaimed. "We've been in here for an hour already looking at the same two films cause ya won't pick, now hurry up and pick Megan Fox so we can get the hell outta here and get some Goddamn pizza!" _

"_No, pick Angelina Jolie!" Kennedy yelled. "Just ignore her, she's cranky cause she's had nothing to eat for two hours!" she added sticking her tongue out at her best friend, ignoring the glare and the finger that Faith was aiming back in her direction._

"_Ladies, ladies, calm down. I know how to settle this, I'll toss a coin, heads Angelina, tails Megan." he said. The two brunettes looked at him expectantly. "Okay, and it is…heads." _

"_Best out of three." Faith pleaded._

_Xander shook his head and grabbed the DVD from a triumphant Kennedy. "Sorry Faithy, the powers that be have spoken, and they want us to watch Tomb Raider." _

_Faith groaned, glaring at him as he went to pay for the film. "Fine you win this time Ken." _

"_No hard feelings Faith, you can watch the Foxmeister next time." she placated, throwing her arm round her friends shoulder._

"_Who needs Megan Fox anyway, got my very own foxy lady waiting on me." Faith said. "And she'll no doubt be pissed cause we're runnin late as usual." _

_Xander came sauntering back over with the movie and popcorn. "Tonight's a night for celebrating, so I'm sure Buffy will forgive you. Now lets get back and watch Lara Croft in all her glory, before hitting the Bronze." _

_The three of them left the video store and started walking down the street. Faith and Kennedy continuing to bicker about the movie choice, while Xander stuffed his face with the bag of cheesy puffs he'd bought without the girls knowledge. They where just nearing the park when Kennedy noticed that Faith had fallen behind. _

"_Fai you alright?" she asked, stepping towards her. _

"_I dunno, think I need to sit down." she slurred, stumbling to her knees. Kennedy ran forward and caught her as she sunk to the ground. She felt her friends body tense in her arms, before going limp and it was then the convulsions started. _

"_Xander!!" Kennedy yelled, seeing that he hadn't noticed what was happening. He quickly ran over to them._

"_Sorry." he said, helping Kennedy turn Faith onto her side, before taking off his hoodie and rolling it up to place under her head._

"_S'okay." They both sat beside Faith, waiting for her seizure to run it's course. After a couple of minutes, Kennedy could see her convulsions lessening. "I think that's her." she said. _

_Faith's convulsions stopped as quickly as they'd started, and she drew in two short breaths. Kennedy was leaning forward to check on her, when she felt her body jerk again, as another series of violent convulsions ripped through her. _

"_Oh God." The blood drained from Kennedy's face, and she froze where she sat. _

"_W-Why's she having another seizure?" Xander asked, he could see Faith struggling to breathe through the convulsions, and felt a knot forming in the pit of his stomach. _

"_She shouldn't, she's never done this before!" Kennedy exclaimed. "We need to phone an ambulance!" _

_Xander fumbled in his pocket and quickly pulled out his cell, he dialled 911, and relayed the information to the operator while Kennedy monitored Faith's condition. _

_She could see Faith could hardly breath, and was tiring quickly. The blue tinge to her lips was becoming more pronounced as the minutes passed and Kennedy prayed that the seizure would end. _

_After what seemed like a lifetime they could hear the sirens of the ambulance fast approaching, two paramedics leapt out as it came to a screech beside them._

_Everything became a blur as they fought to stabilise her, they'd managed to get an I.V in her right hand, and gave her something to ease the convulsions. Kennedy was aware of Xander saying something about going to warn Buffy, but all she could focus on was the sight of her friend lying motionless, as she was moved onto a stretcher and into the back of the ambulance. She could see them start bagging Faith as she fought for breath, she followed numbly as they ushered her into the back, questions being fired at her on the way to hospital, the curses of the technicians doing nothing to soothe her frazzled nerves as she saw Faith had started convulsing again. _

_//End Flashback//_

Kennedy came to a stop, crouching over with her hands on her knees as she fought to get her breath back. Looking around, she realised that she'd ended up at the park. Staggering over to the nearest bench she threw herself down and opened her bottle of water. She hadn't realised how far she'd come, and knew it was no coincidence she'd ended up back here.

From where she sat, she could see the spot where Faith had collapsed. What had happened had shaken her to her core. She'd come to terms with Faith's epilepsy years ago, had known Faith nearly her entire life. And in all that time, although she knew the condition was serious, she'd never once thought of it as life threatening, until now.

"Yo Sanchez!"

Kennedy groaned as she saw who it was. Jessie was the last person she wanted to see right now, and what the hell was she doing out here at _nine in the morning_, she looked at her watch in surprise, she hadn't realised she'd been out for three hours already. "So much for clearing my head." she muttered. Draining the last of her water, she threw the bottle in the trashcan and straightened up

"Heard about Faith." Jessie said casually. "How is she?"

"Who are you trying to kid Jess, we both know you don't give two shits about Faith." Kennedy growled.

"Hey can't a girl be concerned bout a team mate."

"Not when that girls you Jessie. And for your information, Faith's really fucking sick okay. So I don't wanna hear anything else you have to say." she exclaimed, pushing herself up from the bench.

"Okay, fair enough. Just tell Buffy I'm here if she needs to talk or anything."

Kennedy spun and looked at the other girl incredulously. "No, you don't go anywhere near Buffy, just leave her the hell alone. The last thing she needs right now is you sniffing around trying to put the moves on her."

"Did I say I was gonna do that?"

"You didn't have to, I know how you work, you think that you've got a shot with her cause Faith's out of the picture. Well you can think again, if I see you anywhere near Buffy I'll break your fucking legs, understand!"

"Jeez, fine, whatever. I hold out an olive branch and you bite my fuckin hand off. I knew Faith was crazy, but you as well. Must be something in the water." Jessie commented. Kennedy ignored the barb, and turned to head home, she had more important things to worry about than jealous bitches like Jessie O'Conner.

**TBC.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I am so Sorry didn't realise how long ago it was since I'd updated, and yes my muse is an evil bitch lol. Anyway I promise you won't have to wait as long for the next update, I'm determined to finish this fic in the next couple of weeks. Not long to go now, should be able to tie this up in a couple of chapters J Sorry its so short.**

**Chapter 13**

Buffy was on her way back from the canteen, she'd just gotten off of the phone with Kennedy, updating her on Faith's condition. Her doctors had tried reversing her sedation, however the seizures had started almost simultaneously. So it was another change in her medication regime, and another agonising wait to see if it would work. She'd been keeping vigil in the ICU for three days now, and it was starting to tell on her. She was barely able to sleep, and as for eating, well the food in the canteen wasn't much of an improvement on the food she used to get at school.

She was starting to lose her mind, she was sure of it, either that or the hospital coffee was starting to give her hallucinations, why else would Jessie of all people be standing in the ICU department of Sunnydale General, with a balloon and an oversized teddy bear.

"What are you doing here?" Buffy snapped, storming over to confront the other girl.

"Buffy, hey, these are for Faith." Jessie replied awkwardly. "They're from the rest of the team."

"And you just had to be the one to drop them off didn't you." Buffy snorted, making no effort to take the gifts from Jessie.

"I offered to, I wanted to see her."

"Who are you kidding. You couldn't care less what happens to Faith."

"Please Buffy, can I see her?" Jessie asked.

Buffy scoffed, "Not a chance, not after what you've put us through."

"Please, I wont do anything, I swear. I just need to see if she's okay."

Buffy studied the other girl intently, part of her curious as to why she was showing concern now, when all she'd done for the last three years was make their lives a living hell. "Fine, two minutes, then you can leave." she stated, her tone leaving no room for discussion.

On entering the room, Jessie froze in the doorway as she took in Faith's condition and the machines that surrounded her. She barely noticed Buffy removing the gifts from her arms, and placing them on the chair in the corner.

Buffy took in the shock and pallor on Jessie's face, and felt a twinge of sympathy. She knew it wasn't an easy sight to see. Even though she visited Faith everyday, it still broke her heart when she saw her lying there motionless.

Jessie shook her head, "I, I didn't realise." she whispered. "I never meant for this to happen."

Buffy looked at her sharply. "What?" she asked flatly. "What did you just say!"

"I've got to go." Jessie stammered, she turned to leave the room, however Buffy was quicker, lunging across the room she grabbed Jessie's arm and spun her round.

"It was you wasn't it." She stated, her voice like ice as she searched Jessie's face for some sign of confirmation. The fact that the other girl couldn't look her in the eye was all the proof she needed. "You did this to her, to us! She's in a coma, and a fucking machine is breathing for her cause she cant stop fitting long enough to do it herself!" Buffy spat, her eyes clouding with tears. "You fucking bitch!" she screamed, the harsh sound of her palm connecting with Jessie's cheek, seemed to echo round the room.

"Is this what you wanted to see?" Buffy said grabbing Jessie by the hair and forcing her to look towards the bed where her girlfriend lay. "Is this what you thought would happen, when you started messing with our lives!"

"No! I-I'm sorry." she stammered, still unable to look the other girl in the eye, she broke free of her hold and ran from the room, pushing past other staff and visitors in her haste to leave. Buffy quickly followed her from the room, and screamed after her, "You did this to her! You fucking coward!"

When Buffy turned up at Willows door an hour later, the red head automatically thought the worst. But when she saw the fire in Buffy's eyes, she stepped aside to let her in. She'd seen that look before and knew better than to try and stop her. She quickly followed Buffy into the den, Kennedy stood up and shot her a questioning glance at the blondes intrusion, all she could do was shrug in reply.

"What's wrong Buffy?" Willow asked anxiously. "Is Faith ok?"

"For the moment, her condition hasn't changed." she sighed, forcing herself to remain calm.

"What's with the angry face?" Kennedy asked.

"Jessie." Buffy stated.

Kennedy's eyes flashed at the mention of the other girls name, "What the fuck has she done now?"

"She turned up at the hospital, wanting to see Faith-" Buffy started, before she was cut off by a furious Kennedy.

"I hope you told her to go to hell!"

"Kennedy!" Willow exclaimed.

"What, she's a crazy bitch with some sort of jealousy complex!"

"Guys, it was Jessie that messed with Faith's medication." Buffy finished, interrupting the couple before they could go any further.

"What! Please tell me you're joking. Even Jessie wouldn't be that sick." Willows exclaimed. "Would she?"

"She admitted as much at the hospital, the guilt was all over her face Will, she nearly had a breakdown when she saw Faith."

"What did she say exactly?" Willow asked.

"She said she never meant for this to happen." Buffy replied.

"I'm gonna fucking kill her." Kennedy spat, grabbing her coat from the back of the couch.

"Kennedy wait, don't do anything stupid." Willow pleaded, chasing after the other girl as she stormed towards the front door. "Sweetie please."

"No! She's gone too far this time, she thinks its funny to mess around with someone's meds! Faith nearly died cause of her, she needs to pay!" she yelled, slamming the front door behind her as she left.

"This is bad Buffy." Willow stammered, her eyes shining as she grabbed her coat. "We need to stop her."

"I think I know where she's headed to, c'mon we need to catch up with her before she gets to Jessie." Buffy stated, there was only one place in Sunnydale where people went when they didn't want to be disturbed and she hoped to God that they found Jessie before Kennedy did.

**Tbc**


End file.
